AUBURN, Alabama -- A lot of the work that Auburn's offensive line has done this season flies under the radar, off the TV screen or hard to pick up as Tre Mason or Nick Marshall bursts into the secondary.

And there's no official statistic kept by the NCAA that tracks line play.

Auburn's offensive line is keeping track of one particular statistic, though, an in-house stat kept by coach J.B. Grimes that has sparked a little competition among the Tigers' five guys up front.

"You have to be that person to finish your block, you have to be that nasty person on the field, that person who wants to get a person on the ground," Auburn right guard Chad Slade said. "We want to be the best O-line, but we also want to be the O-line that by the time you leave the next day, we want you to feel sore the next game."

With that in mind, Auburn's offensive linemen keep close track of their knockdown blocks, a statistic that has prompted a competition of sorts among the Tigers' big guys up front.

Center Reese Dismukes leads the team with 70 blocks, according to Slade. Left tackle Greg Robinson is second with 68 or 69, Slade has 63, and Alex Kozan is somewhere around the 45-50 range.

Robinson, incidentally, may be trailing Dismukes, but the big left tackle probably leads the team in highlight-reel blocks.

"Greg is one of the strongest linemen that we have, and a lot of the things we see on film that he does is amazing," Slade said. "Greg has plenty of those blocks that he just goes up to somebody, grabs them and throws them out of the way."

All of that power is a big reason why the Tigers rank fifth in the country in rushing at 315.38 yards per game. According to an analysis by ESPN.com, Auburn ranks first in the SEC in yards before contact, the only SEC team averaging more than four yards per carry before first contact.

Only a year ago, Auburn ranked 13th in the SEC in yards before contact, a big reason why the Tigers averaged just 2.6 yards per carry in 2012.

Auburn's offensive line hasn't had those kinds of problems this season.

"Our line has done a solid job," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "Any time you can run the football, that opens other things up and so far, we’ve been effective running the football."

Now that the Tigers are at the top of the SEC in rushing, Auburn's offensive line is starting to get some recognition, praise the Tigers are resisting.

After all, it's hard to put together knockdown blocks if a line starts to get complacent.

"We can do so much more," Slade said. "If we lead the league in rushing, we're going to wait until after the year; we're not going pat ourselves on the back right now. We still have room for improvement."